Remnant of a Fantasy
by DGAF4Life79
Summary: Cloud, his first name, that is all he can remember. No memories of friends, no memories of family. Nothing, except for a voice he hears in his dreams begging him to wake up and reminding him of a promise. But as his memories of who he was finally begin to surface the world is thrown into chaos. Will he be the hero he promised her he would be, or is he just a puppet?
1. Prologue

A/N: Edited Chapter now posted. Small changes here and there. Decided to give Cloud a father that no one knows about but people do know him rather than an unknown mysterious father that would never appear. Also did away with the whole he had silvery eyes thing.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything other than a few OC's. RWBY is the property of Rooster Teeth and FFVII and all other Final Fantasy games are owned by Square Enix. Please support the official releases

Remnant of a Fantasy

Prologue

Everywhere she looked, all that Yang could see was an empty stretch of nothingness. Breaking into a run she frantically started to search for something, anything that would tell her where she was, but everywhere she went it was all the same, a blank, white void that seemed to have no end.

"Hello," she called out breathlessly as she came to a stop, "Is anybody out there? Ruby?! Weiss?! Blake?!"

The only response she received was her own voice being echoed back to her.

Taking a moment to recompose herself Yang took several deep breaths to steady her racing heart.

"Calm down Yang," she said to herself, her voice more than a bit unsteady. "It's only a dream. I'll just close my eyes and count to three and then I will wake up in my room at Beacon and everything will be fine."

She continued to calm herself further before closing her eyes in concentration.

"Okay, here goes nothing. One, two, thr-"

"It's your fault," a small voice interrupted.

"Huh," was the only reply she could muster as she snapped her eyes open in surprise.

Instead of an empty void Yang now found herself in a familiar setting. Yang now stood in the middle of a large clearing in the middle of a heavily forested area. She could smell the faint scent of pine wafting into her nostrils as the wind blew through the forest.

Her heart started pounding loudly in her chest once more as deep sense of unease wormed its way into her. She knew this place all too well. This was the forest near the abandoned dust mines on the outskirts of Patch. This was where her father had expressly forbidden her from playing, the place where…

"It's your fault!"

Yang quickly spun on her heal to face the owner of the voice. Looking down, she found herself staring into a striking pair of icy blue eyes set in a surprisingly effeminate male face. The owner of said eyes was a boy no older than ten, who would be considered scrawny and short for his age. His skin was pale and on his head sat a mop of light blonde hair that was both spiky and unruly.

"Cl- Cloud," Yang stuttered out in surprise, "But y-you're"

"Dead," he finished for her, his face a blank, unreadable, emotionless mask.

No sooner than the words had left his mouth did the ground beneath her feet begin to crumble away and Yang began to plummet into the underground lake, saturated with toxic levels of Dust, beneath her.

Reaching out desperately to grab onto anything to keep herself from falling to her doom she found her descent halted as a small hand grabbed onto her own.

Looking up at the small boy who was now leaning over the edge, his face still unreadable, she felt her eyes begin to tear up in grief as she started to apologize to the child that held her life in his hands.

"Cloud, I'm sorry," she sobbed as she begged for forgiveness, "I never should have dragged you out here that day, I'm so sorry Cloud!"

In a surprising display of strength Cloud brought her face closer to his own so she could clearly see the cold-hearted detachment in his eyes as he gave his response.

"It should have been you."

And with that he let her fall.

She screamed as she plummeted into the water below. The last thing she saw as it swallowed her up was Cloud's uncaring gaze.

Yang jolted up right in her bed breathing heavily trying still her rapidly beating heart, her sweat soaked t-shirt clinging tightly to her skin.

"Yang," said a small concerned voice to her side.

She turned to stare into the worried eyes of her little sister.

"Are you okay?"

Yang sniffled as she struggled in vein to fight back the tears that were welling up in her eyes and instead wiped them away on her wrist.

"I'm fine Ruby," she said unconvincingly as the tears continued to fall. "It was just a nightmare."

Ruby looked around the room to the prone forms of their teammates who still appeared to be sleeping.

"You were having that dream again, weren't you?"

"I'm fine Ruby, It's just a dream."

Yang gripped her blanket tightly in her fists. 'Damn it, why am I still crying? I'm stronger than this!'

"Yang that was seven years ago. I'm sure Cloud would have forgiven you."

"Cloud's not here," she all but shouted at her sister the tears now flowing freely.

Ruby looked around nervously as their teammates shifted in their sleep.

"Maybe you should see the school's…" She never finished her suggestion as Yang interrupted her in a fit of rage, her eyes shifting from lilac to red in the time it took Ruby to blink.

"I DON'T NEED TO SEE A SHRINK!"

Weiss and Blake were now wide awake and staring at them curiously.

"Is everything alright you two," asked Blake from the bed below her, her voice both tired and concerned.

"Everything is fine," Yang stated indignantly, "Just go back to sleep and mind your own business."

With that said she turned over on her side, her back now to her sister.

Weiss and Blake were now staring at Ruby in equal parts confusion and worry.

"Everything is fine," Ruby said nervously as she rubbed the back of her head, "Let's just... try to get some sleep. Okay?"

Her teammates were clearly unconvinced but closed their eyes in attempts to continue slumbering regardless. No doubt they would grill her for answers in the morning.

Heading back to her bed Ruby cast one last worried glance at her sister and saw her body shake and quiver as she continued to sob quietly. Yang was the toughest person she knew but right now she was most certainly not alright.

* * *

"Wake up…" the sad voice of a young, girl sniffled.

"I'm so sorry, please wake up," the voice called out again to him.

"I'm begging you Cloud, please… You have to wake up, you promised."

Slowly he opened his eyes. Eyes that glowed blue, with an eerie and unnatural energy.

A/N: meh, not much added to this one just made some small alterations. If you are new reading this story please read and review.


	2. Chapter 1

A/N: So yup, more edits. Small changes here and there. The further along I get the more changes will be made. CYZL which was originally sizzle Is now Crystal.

Disclaimer: RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and FFVII is owned by Square Enix. I make no profit from this and merely do this as a means to feed my own conceited sense of self gratification.

Remnant of a Fantasy

Chapter 1

Cloud regarded the landscape that passed by beneath him with detached disinterest as the Airship carried his teammates and him to their destination, Beacon Academy, for the Vytal Festival. It was nothing more than a means to gauge their combat abilities when compared to the average Huntsmen and Huntresses their age as well as to ascertain whether or not they could function normally with the rest of society; if they were capable of leading normal lives.

He scoffed internally. __Normal__. The members of team CYZL were anything but __normal__. The most accurate way that he could describe them was a motley crew of monsters created in the lab of a madman. Nothing more than lab rats that had spent the better portion of their lives being poked, prodded and injected with a bevy of chemical concoctions by Hojo before he cast them aside to make his escape before his lab was raided and they were "liberated". But the truth was that they were Haven's best kept secret, a black-ops team sent out to quell threats to the kingdom of Mistral, answerable only to the council themselves. Not even Headmaster Lionheart was privy to their _unique_ situation.

The council had promised that once they had completed enough missions and had proven they were not a threat to civilians they would be released from their servitude, if they so wished it.

It was easy for Lightning, Y'shtola and Zidane to look forward to freedom. They each had memories and pasts, lives that they could one-day return to, but for him it was different. He had awoken in Hojo's lab all those years ago with no memory save for his first name and a voice that belonged to a young girl he only heard in his dreams, a girl that kept apologizing and begging him to wake up. It was the only link to his past that he had.

There were nights he would lay awake thinking that perhaps if he could find this girl then he could regain his lost memories and remember who he had been before Hojo had done whatever it was he had done to him. He knew it was a long-shot, he had no idea where to even begin looking or even what she looked like, if she was still alive, or if she was even real in the first place or just some drug induced delusion created by his mind as a way to cope with his turmoil.

Cloud turned his attention from the window and stared at his fists as he clenched them tightly in determination. Her voice was the only hope he had of finding out who he was, and he wouldn't give that up so easily.

"My, my. Someone's certainly deep in thought," stated a feminine voice, pulling him from his reverie.

Turning to face his teammate he was unsurprised to find her nose less than an inch from his own, a glint of mischief in her pale eyes as she leaned against the arm of her chair to further invade his personal space.

"Y'shtola," Cloud deadpanned, his expression unreadable.

Y'shtola for her part merely smiled softly as she pulled her face away from his.

"It never fails to amaze me how stoic you can be at all times," she sighed and leaned back into her chair, "Could try humoring me and at least pretend to act surprised every once in awhile?"

Cloud just shrugged unsure on how to answer, "I don't know."

"That's not an answer and you know it," she said, shaking her head in exasperation.

"Come now dear sister of mine," said her brother Zidane in a chiding tone as he took a seat in the chair opposite of his sister, "leave mister doom and gloom over here alone. Besides I'm sure he was just thinking about all the cute honeys he and I are going to mingle with once we set our feet on solid ground again. Isn't that right Cloud?"

Y'shtola huffed in annoyance as she crossed her arms over her chest before sending a glare in her brother's direction.

"You should get your head out of the gutter for once Zidane and focus. If we can prove we can exist normally with society, then one day we can get our lives back."

"But sister what better way to prove that than to socialize with those of the fairer gender who don't happen to be my sister or Lightning for once," he said motioning to Y'shtola and their pink-haired comrade across the aisle who, for her part, simply ignored him. "Besides," he continued, "it's not as if Mom and Dad will even recognize us, let alone even want us. I mean what would we even say to them, 'Hi Mom and Dad it's us, your long lost genetically altered, once human now faunus children'. Yes, I am sure that will go over just splendidly."

"Ow," he exclaimed as his hands flew to his head after Y'shotola's hand made contact with the back of it. "What the hell was that for?"

"Idiot," she all but shouted, "Mother and Father loved us unconditionally and no amount of genetic alteration would ever change that! Don't you ever insinuate such a thing ever again!"

Cloud could hear the fear and doubt in her voice. Y'shotola herself was unsure of whether she believed her own words

"Yeah okay, I'm sorry sis," he apologized lamely, "It won't happen again."

"See to it that it doesn't."

"So Cloud," said Zidane, trying to steer the conversation away from himself, "you were spaced out for quite a while there. What exactly was it that had your mind so preoccupied?"

"It was nothing," Cloud replied swiftly silently hoping that the twins would not press the matter further.

"It was that voice you hear in your dreams," said the cat-girl. "Wasn't it?"

Cloud opened his mouth to respond but was quickly interrupted as their teammate, Lightning, cut in.

"It's pointless," she said, her tone cold and scathing, "You shouldn't go chasing shadows blindly."

"But Lightning, that is the only clue Cloud has to his past," Y'shtola began to argue passionately, "If he can find out who it is then maybe he can get his memories back."

"He's the lucky one," Lightning said turning her sharp gaze to stare directly into Y'shtola's eyes, "He has no memories of his past or connections to loved ones to tie him down or hold him back. Memories of the past will only deter us. We have no lives to return to. The sooner you realize that the easier your life will be Y'shtolla."

"You shouldn't say things like that! Don't you have a sister, what was her name, Serah? Wouldn't you do anything so that you could see her again."

"We're freaks Y'shtola, don't you get it? My sister's life will be better without a monster like me in it!"

With that last bit said Lightning turned away from her teammates to stare out the window, signifying her desire to no longer argue the matter further.

"We- we shouldn't listen to her," Y'shtola said to herself more than the others.

"That's right," her brother Zidane reassured her, "I am sure Cloud will find this mystery girl of his."

"Yes," agreed Y'shtola regaining some of her conviction and determination, "We won't rest until he does!"

"And besides," said Zidane rubbing his chin and sending Cloud a sly look, "with any luck she'll have grown up to be a total bombshell."

"Zidane," Y'shtola admonished him bopping him lightly on his head.

After that it was relatively quiet. Cloud and Lightning kept to themselves saying nothing while the twins chatted amongst themselves.

It wasn't much longer until the door to the forward cabin opened up and the sounds of footsteps could be heard as armored boots pounded out a steady rhythm on the deck. All four members of team CYZL looked towards their handler as he made his presence known.

Vincent Valentine was a tall man with pale skin, dark hair, and eyes an eerie shade of blood-red. He was shrouded in a tattered red cloak the same shade as his eyes, on his hip he wore the triple barreled pistol known to them as Cerberus, and covering his left hand was golden colored, clawed gauntlet.

He was one of Hojo's earlier experiments, deemed a failure and cast aside. He had been the one to lead the assault on the lab, no doubt in an attempt to exact some form of retribution on the madman. Cloud found the air around him to be unsettling, as if there was some great power being suppressed, a force of nature yearning for release barely contained within the human that stood before him.

Vincent regarded them all individually making sure he had their undivided attention before addressing them as a group, "We will be arriving at Beacon within the hour. Gather your belongings and prepare to disembark. The rest of your gear will be delivered to the proper storage facilities on campus by the crew. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir," replied the team in unison.

Vincent gave a curt nod before briskly returning to the forward cabin. As the door slid shut once more team CYZL stood from their seats and began to gather their things in silence.

* * *

 ** **At Beacon****

The morning sun was just coming up over the horizon as its bright rays shone through the large windows of beacons mess hall. It was Saturday at Beacon and most of the students had opted to sleep in so the cafeteria was relatively empty save for a few early risers who had gotten out of bed to eat breakfast.

Ruby was one such student as she sat with her back to the sun at one of the numerous long tables, nervously picking at her food, dreading what was coming after the events of the previous night. After Yang's violent outburst their teammates would now be hounding her all day for details. And because Yang was still in bed after crying all night it was going to be rather difficult to dodge their questions.

Ruby's body visibly tensed up as two trays were sat down on either side of hers and their owners sat down in the previously unoccupied seats. She didn't need to look at them to know that it was her teammates Weiss and Blake.

"So about last night," started Blake in an attempt to be subtle, "What was all of that about?"

Ruby groaned internally before turning to face the faunus, a curious look now adorning her features.

"What was all of what about," she asked in an attempt to evade the question.

"You know exactly what we are talking about Ruby Rose," said the heiress forcefully.

'Does she really have to use my full name," Ruby thought before replying with, "Do I?"

"Ruby," Blake groaned in exasperation, "please just tell us."

"Honestly guys I haven't the slightest clue as to what you are talkin-"

"That's enough Ruby! We are your teammates and us such we have a right to know what is bothering your sister, so spill, what was up with her nightmare last night? Something about clouds?"

Ruby sighed, "You guys were awake for the whole thing, weren't you?"

Blake looked away guiltily before speaking, "she was making an awful lot of noise in her sleep..."

Ruby was about to speak when a loud obnoxious voice cut it.

"What's this I hear," inquired the hammer wielder of team JNPR as she sat down directly in front of Ruby, audibly slamming her trey that was overladen with pancakes on the table, "Yang is afraid of clowns!? How very interesting."

Ren came up behind her his trey holding a more balanced breakfast along with a glass of what Ruby could only assume was some form of algae, "Actually Nora I think she said clouds."

"Very interesting indeed," Nora continued, stroking an imaginary goatee as though plotting the demise of Team RWBY's blonde brawler.

"Wait what's going on with Yang," questioned JNPR's blonde, klutz of a leader as he and the final member of their team, Pyrha, took their seats.

"I'm sorry Jaune but this is really just between the members of team RWBY," Ruby explained in hopes of using team JNPR as an excuse not to talk about it.

"Ruby," started Pyrha, her voice laced with concern, "We are your friends. If there is something wrong with Yang we want to be able to help in any way we can. It's what friends are for. No one should ever have to face their problems alone.

"Okay, okay," grumbled Ruby as she accepted defeat, "But this stays between us and only us. And please whatever you do don't let Yang know I told you."

Everyone nodded their agreement; an unspoken promise to stay silent.

"Okay then, so first off Yang's nightmare wasn't about clouds it was about Cloud."

"Wait," said Jaune scratching his head, "I am really confused now."

"Cloud was this boy we knew back when we were kids growing up in Patch."

Ruby waited as Nora burst out in a fit of giggles as she failed to stifle her laughter, "Wait, wait, wait, you mean to say his parents named him Cloud? That's hilarious!"

"Are you done," deadpanned Ruby.

Nora held up a hand, a sign for Ruby to wait, as her laughter finally died down, "Okay, I'm done now."

"As I was saying; Cloud was a boy we new when we were kids. He didn't live too far from us and so his mom, who had to raise him by herself, would leave him with us whenever she went to work at the inn/tavern in town. She was really pretty, I think my Uncle Qrow was actually kind of sweet on her."

"How is this relevant to Yang's nightmare," questioned Weiss impatiently.

"I'm getting to that, geez," muttered Ruby before continuing, "Cloud was kind of a scrawny kid and so he got picked on a lot. It got to a point where he started to pick fights with the rest of the kids. He was actually able to beat most of them up. You know, until they started ganging up on him that is. Then my sister Yang would swoop in and come to the rescue. It was always kind of funny to watch him pout and blush while she fussed over him like a mother hen."

"One day while he was staying at our house there was a fire at the tavern. Cloud's mom didn't make it out. She was all he had. No one knew where his father was let alone who he was. He was about to be shipped off to an orphanage but Yang wouldn't have it. She begged and pleaded with our Dad to let Cloud stay with us. At first he said no, but Yang was obstinate about it and refused to give up. Eventually Dad caved and Cloud moved in with us, but not before giving Cloud the big speech about breaking his little girl's heart," Ruby let out a small chuckle, "Yang's face was so red she looked like a tomato. Both her and Cloud insisted that he was not her boyfriend and that he was just a friend that happened to be a boy. That and that the other had cooties."

Ruby clasped her hands tightly underneath the table as she got to part she had been dreading.

"So Cloud lived with us for about a year, he and Yang were practically inseparable. Well one day, Yang dragged him with her into the forest to play. She took him to an area of the woods our Dad had forbidden her to go. But you know Yang, she's not really one for rules. The ground in that area was horribly unstable from all the blasting that they used to do in the old dust mine near there."

"How reckless can she be," Weiss all but shouted, "That is horribly dangerous!"

Ruby just shrugged, "She was ten. She really didn't think it was that big a deal at the time."

"Okay," Blake chimed in, "then what happened"

"While they were playing the ground started to crumble away. Yang insists that Cloud had been on solid ground and that she was the one who had originally fallen, but as she was falling she blacked out. When she came to she was on solid ground and Cloud had been the one to fall. Beneath the ground was a lake that was completely saturated with raw Dust of all kinds. Yang had run as fast as she could to get Dad and Uncle Qrow. They managed to get him out and to the hospital but by then it was too late. The Doctor said his body had been completely infused with Dust inside and out and that he had what they called stage three Dust poisoning."

The color drained from Weiss's face, being the heiress to the SDC she was all to familiar with the effects of dust poisoning. "That's terrible," she said, her voice barely more than a whisper

"They said that even if it didn't kill him he would spend the rest of his life in a coma. Yang sat by his side for three days crying and begging him to wake up. I don't think she even slept. Our Dad had to literally pull her away to take her home so she could shower and eat. When we got back the next day the doctor said he had passed away. Yang was devastated. Dad asked for the body so that we could bury him but they had said something about keeping the body so that they could study the effects of Dust poisoning. Dad was furious but there wasn't anything he could do. So he got a head stone and placed it in the forest not far from our house and we had a funeral for him."

At this point almost everyone was on the verge of tears.

"That! Is such a sad story," wailed Nora as she blew her nose into Ren's sleeve.

"Yeah well that was seven years ago this month, and every year around this time Yang has those nightmares. Dad tried to get her help but she absolutely refuses to see a therapist."

The sound of a food trey hitting the floor could be heard echoing through the cafeteria. The two teams turned to face the direction of the noise in time to see a mess of long blonde hair disappear through the door before it slammed shut.

"Oh no! Yang!"

* * *

Yang stomped across the campus grounds every one she came across giving her a wide berth as anger physically radiated from her body.

"Stupid Ruby," she raged her eyes now glued to the ground, "Why did you go and tell everyone! I don't need any hel- Oof."

Her tirade came to an end as walked into something solid and promptly landed on her derriere. At first she thought it had been a wall, what with how solid it had been. But opening her eyes she was now staring at of a pair of black combat boots. Further up were black cargo pants, on the person's upper torso was a black sleeveless shirt with a single black pauldron on the left shoulder emblazoned with a silver wolf head of all things.

"Hey," she started, "Watch where you're-"

She paused briefly as she found herself staring into a pair of glowing blue eyes.

"going?" She finished lamely.

 ** **Hojo's log****

 ** **Entry 334****

 _ _So far of the 50 test subjects I have experimented on only subjects A-235 and A-236 yet live. It seems that the Human body mostly rejects the additional DNA and the body is unwilling to convert into that of a faunus. Even so I have high hopes for the two that live. If they live I will have proven that it is possible to convert a human into a faunus. I only wish that the inverse were true.__

 _ _Of the hundreds of faunus I have experimented with not a single one has been able to make the conversion into a human. It seems further study is needed before I attempt it again.__

 ** **Entry 334 End****

 ** **A/N:**** So that brings the first chapter to a close some minor changes. I made Y'shtola less childish and tried to make a bit more mature like her character in FFXIV. Fixed some grammar and spelling errors. The next edit will be out either tomorrow or Wednesday. That one may take some time. I am going to add about 1,000 words to the overall length of it.


	3. Chapter 2

A/N: I am little disappointed by the very small response I have received for this story so far but I guess I just had high hopes for my own writing. You win some, you lose some. It's not all bad. I tend to learn from my failures.

Disclaimer: So yeah Rooster Teeth owns RWBY and Square Enix owns Final Fantasy. Please support the official releases.

Remnant of a Fantasy

Chapter 2

The members of team CYZL and their handler stood around the airship landing pad as the crew worked on unloading their gear from the ship. Their arrival having garnered the attention of the other students on the campus as students gathered in small groups to get a look at the late comers. No doubt in an attempt to try to find advantages and weaknesses they could exploit in the upcoming tournament.

Vincent regarded his charges with a discerning eye, trying to get a read on their attitudes towards their current situation. Of the Faunus siblings, Zidane, seemed most eager to interact and socialize with people other than his teammates and sister for a change. His head constantly on a swivel taking in as much as he could in an attempt to sate his growing curiosity, if only for a moment.

His twin sister, Y'shtola, seemed rather exasperated by her brothers behavior and was keeping a close eye on him, ready to intervene should her brother become too… rambunctious.

Lightning on the other hand remained obstinate in maintaining her attitude of annoyance with her current predicament. She was currently leaning against a pillar, her arms crossed over her chest, scowl firmly in place, shooting glares at passing students should they so much as glance in her direction.

Cloud just sat and watched as the ship's crew unloaded his motorcycle, Fenrir, and wheeled it off towards the school's garage. His face a mask of passive indifference. His body language practically screaming that he was unsure of what he was even doing here.

"Team CYZL," he said in a quiet yet commanding tone to gain their attention. "I am heading to the headmasters office to inform him of our arrival."

"Is Beacon's headmaster aware of what we are," asked Lightning as she pushed her body away from the pillar to stand with her teammates.

"He knows you are… Unique..."

"Is that all he knows?"

Vincent nodded in affirmation before going on, "As long as you do not give him reason to suspect anything more then that is all he will know. I will leave you to your own devices for the time being. I will meet you in the courtyard by the fountain in an hour. Until then you are free to explore and socialize at your own leisure," he watched Zidane's expression brighten up at that, "but only as long as you stay together," with that last bit said it instantly deflated.

"Great," Zidane muttered, "No one's gonna want to talk to us with Buzz and Kill hanging around."

"Hey now," protested Y'shtola, "Cloud's not that bad."

"Ahem," Lightning mock coughed, grabbing the siblings attention, "what was that?"

Y'shtola smiled coyly beneath her gaze while her brother fidgeted nervously.

"What I meant to say was," Zidane trailed off trying to come up with something to say that would placate the volatile woman's growing irritation, "Psst Cloud. Help me out man."

Cloud raised an eyebrow questioningly, leveling the monkey-boy with a look that clearly stated, 'this is your problem, not mine.'

After a long pause Lightning just huffed before walking away, "Forget it. Let's just get out of here."

* * *

Vincent watched as the rest of the team followed her before he departed for the main building to meet with Headmaster Ozpin. On his way there he made sure to take note of the layout of the campus, memorizing possible escape routes and places to take cover should he be engaged in combat at any time during his stay.

Very few students were inside the school building as he made his way inside to the foyer. Quickly locating the elevator he pushed the up button and waited for the elevator to descend to the ground floor before stepping inside.

A few minutes later found him outside the Headmaster's office, face to face with a rather stern looking woman with blonde hair and glasses, wearing a black skirt and a white blouse with a whipping crop by her side.

"May I help you with something," she inquired politely.

"I am Vincent Valentine from Haven, I am here to see the Headmaster."

"Ah yes, Mr. Valentine. The Headmaster has been expecting you. If you would please follow me."

As he followed her into the office, her heels clacking loudly on the hard floor, he looked around. The office was a large circular room surrounded by walls on all sides with a single window directly behind the headmaster's desk. A transparent ceiling gave an excellent view of the enormous gears that loomed over the school, casting their shadows on the office's floor that resembled a clock's face.

The Headmaster himself sat behind the large desk, in a very uncomfortable looking chair, his hands folded in front of him as he fixed Vincent with a calculating gaze from behind his glasses. The stern woman signaled for Vincent to stay in front of the desk while she took her place, standing beside the headmaster behind it.

"Vincent Valentine I presume," he said addressing the taller man. "Please, have a seat," he implored gesturing to one of the large chairs on the opposite side of the desk.

Vincent gave the chair a passing glance before returning his attention to the headmaster, "I thank you for your hospitality but this will not take long."

Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a small thumb-drive and tossed it to the white haired man in front of him.

Ozpin caught it deftly, looking at it curiously, "What's this?"

"Everything you need to know about my charges."

"Everything I need to know you say," he inquired as he took a drink from the mug on his desk, "Implying that there are things about them that I do not need to know. Is that correct," Ozpin questioned, narrowing his eyes.

"That much goes without saying, yes," Vincent replied, his voice even and unwavering

"I see," said the headmaster as he set the small storage device on the desk in front of him,"And what about you Mister Valentine?"

"What about me?"

"I find your Aura, or should I say your lack thereof, to be rather unsettling," he finished, the woman from before now reaching for her crop. "Not now Glynda," Ozpin commanded her quietly.

Vincent did not let his surprise show as he leveled Beacon's headmaster with a flat look, "That is also something you do not need to know."

Ozpin merely frowned before heaving a sigh, "That is most unfortunate."

His tone of voice had Vincent's hand instinctively hovering over his gun Cerberus. This did not go unnoticed by Ozpin.

"No Mister Valentine there will be no need for violence today, but be aware that should I ever suspect that you or your charges pose a threat to my students I will not hesitate to eliminate you."

"You are within your rights to do so," Vincent responded coolly, "But you should also be aware that should it come to that my students and I will not simply lie down and die."

Ozpin nodded in agreement, "I would expect nothing less."

"If that is all Headmaster..." Vincent trailed off hoping their business was concluded.

"Not quite," said Ozpin as he pulled two envelopes from his desk and tossed them to cloaked man. "Your room key and your student's room keys. I hope you enjoy your stay here at Beacon."

Vincent gave the headmaster a small bow before taking his leave.

* * *

Once the enigma that was Vincent Valentine had exited the office Glynda turned to Ozpin, "Are you sure it is wise to allow them to stay here?"

Ozpin merely stood from his desk and walked to the window and gazed down at the campus grounds below.

"Ozpin," Glynda pressed further, now demanding an answer.

Ozpin did not avert his gaze but gave his answer, "For now we will simply wait and see."

"How can you be so lax about this? You know that the only things that do not posses an Aura are-"

"Grim," he finished for her. 'And her,' he thought to himself before continuing, "I am well aware of the implications Glynda. But as of yet neither he nor his charges pose a threat to the school or the students. Until they do we will take no direct action against them. We will simply review the information Haven sent us and we will keep them under close observation."

"I still don't like it," she grumbled

Ozpin could only give a nod of acceptance before returning to his work.

* * *

Cloud wasn't sure what the other students found more off putting; Lighting's intimidating stare that threatened pain and anguish the likes of which they had never known, or the overly exuberant faunus who seemed hellbent on introducing himself to everyone in the loudest manner possible.

It wasn't long before the rest of the students started to give team CYZL a wide berth in order to avoid being on the receiving end of either one of the two torturous scenarios. This didn't deter his teammate in the slightest as Zidane continued to smile and wave at every thing that so much as moved in his peripheral while Lightning's scowl remained firmly in place.

Cloud shook his head silently at their antics before placing his hands behind his head and leaned it back to stare at the sky while he continued to walk. This however, proved to be a mistake as not even a minute later a girl came stomping towards him unawares as she kept her eyes fixed on the ground ranting angrily to herself.

Cloud gave a grunt of discomfort and had to take a step back to maintain his footing as she barreled into him headfirst. The girl, on the other hand, was not as lucky. Letting out a cry of surprise as she fell to the ground and landed firmly on her rump.

She didn't hesitate to turn her anger on him, "Watch where you're-," she paused as her lilac eyes met his glowing orbs, "going?," she finished her anger somewhat forgotten.

They stayed like that for a moment longer before Y'shtola nudged him in the ribs before whispering in his ear, "This is the part where you are supposed to help her up."

Blushing in embarrassment he recovered quickly and offered the fallen girl his hand, which she accepted, before he pulled her to her feet.

Getting a good look at her now that she was standing Cloud noticed that she was about the same height he was maybe just a hair shorter. She was wearing combat boots, tight shorts underneath a short skirt, a tank top and a brown leather jacket. Her long unbound blonde hair reached down to her waist.

"Thanks," she said as she dusted herself off, "I am sorry about that by the way."

"No," said Cloud shaking his head, "It was my fault. I wasn't looking where I was going."

"Yeah well neither was I so I guess we are both to blame huh," she finished with a bright smile.

"Yeah," he said giving her a small smile of his own, "I guess so."

"Hi there pretty lady," Zidane quickly interrupted as he stepped in front of Cloud and offered the blonde girl his hand in greeting, "My name is Zidane, Zidane Tribal. And what should I call a lovely flower such as yourself?"

The girl for her part was only slightly taken aback by Zidane's forwardness, and responded in kind, "No problem, but don't ever call me a flower again. You got that," she finished threateningly as her eyes shifted from lilac to red in a heartbeat.

Zidane's eyes widened comically as he nodded in agreement, "Yeah, sure thing."

"The name's Yang," she said introducing herself, "Yang Xiao Long."

As she stated her name Cloud felt a sudden, intense pain lance through his skull. The pain was so intense it sent him to one knee as he gripped his head in pain.

"Hey," asked Yang concerned as his teammates rushed to his side, "are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he lied taking a gulp of air as he fought another spike of pain.

"You sure?"

"Yes," he assured the girl as he finally stood back on his feet, "Just a painful migraine."

"Sooo," Yang drawled out, "Where you guys from?"

"Haven," Cloud answered plainly, "We arrived this morning."

"That's cool, my team and I met a guy from there the other day. So why didn't you guys come with the rest of your school."

"We were performing a field exercise," it was Lightning that answered this time, "It took a little longer than projected. We arrived later with a teacher as a result," She continued impatiently, "Now if you'll excuse us we need to go meet our teacher for our room assignment."

"Okay, okay. Geez someone's awfully crabby today," said Yang as she turned to leave, "Catch you later Spiky!"

Cloud bristled slightly at the all to familiar nickname, "My name's," he tried to say but only sighed as she sprinted around the corner.

"Come on," he said turning to his team, "Let's go."

* * *

 ** **Hojo's Log****

 ** **Entry 143****

 _ _That insolent wretch! How dare he try to put an end to my research, to halt the progress of science. I knew it from the moment I met him that bastard was going to be trouble. He dare to attempt to turn Lucrecia against me. To have her give up on the experiment. The moment I got the chance I put a bullet in the bastard's back and yet somehow he still lives though not without Lucrecia's aid of course.__

 _ _She begged me to spare him. Even threatened to end the experiment should I so much as touch a hair on his head. I have decided to grant her this one request of hers, if only to humor her so that my research might continue uninterrupted.__

 _ _Besides I am sorely needing a live subject to test a theory of mine.__

 _ _By the time I am through with him that whore Lucrecia will wish I had just killed him.__

 ** **Entry 143 End****

 ** **A/N:**** Just more edits. sorry guys. I know another short, boring chapter. I promise the next one will be longer and have some action in it I just wanted to get something posted tonight. The pace is going to pick up very soon. With that said Yang will not recognize Cloud right away. She doesn't even know his name yet. I will endeavor to do better in the future. As always please read and review. I would honestly like to hear from more people and get their thoughts on this story. Until next time guys.


	4. Chapter 3

A/N: Sorry for the long wait guys may have gotten a little addicted to a new game and that coupled with work has pretty much taken up most of my time. I have a massive problem with time management. Anyway I guess I should just get on with the story. I was astounded by the large response for my last chapter. It always makes me happy to know people actually enjoy reading my stories. Also I just saw the trailer for Final Fantasy NT and all the characters I use for team CYZL are in it so that's cool.

Disclaimer: I don't own either RWBY or the FF series.

Chapter 3

Cloud stared at the ceiling of the team CYZL's room as he lay on his bed munching on one of the nutrient bars that was standard issue within the Mistral military, washing down each bite of the dry and tasteless breakfast substitute with a swig of water from the bottle he kept on his nightstand.

The room itself was a standard dormitory room. Four twin sized beds with drawers underneath so the students could store their clothes. At the foot of each bed was a trunk so that the members of the team could store what few personal belongings that they had. A door to the left of the room's entrance led to a bathroom that was currently occupied by Lightning at the moment, the sound of running water indicating she had yet to finish her shower.

As he lay there he started to think about the dream he had awoken from.

* * *

A young Cloud sat upon the highest branch in the tallest tree right outside his hometown staring up at the sky as the sun went down and the stars became visible. This had become a nightly routine so that his mother wouldn't see the various scrapes and bruises he obtained in his _disagreements_ on a near daily basis before she went to work at the tavern.

"What are you doing up here all by yourself?"

Instead of answering he simply looked down, a few branches below him a young girl with long blond hair and lilac was climbing up. In a few few moments she had reached the branch he sat upon and took a seat next to him.

"Go away Yang," he muttered angrily.

"Awww c'mon," she pouted in an annoyingly cute way, "Don't be like that Cloud."

"I didn't need your help."

Yang looked him up and down, taking note of all the bruises that littered his body.

"Uh-huh, suuure you didn't," she said sarcastically

Cloud clenched his fists in frustration. He hated knowing she was right.

"Hey, I have an idea," she exclaimed excitedly. "You should come over to my house tomorrow!"

"Why would I do that?"

"Well my Uncle Qrow just got back from a mission."

Cloud frowned slightly, failing to see where she was going with this.

"My mom says he's a drunk."

"Yeah that's him," she said a bit ashamedly, "But he's still the coolest!"

"Umm… Okay?" Cloud said unsure of what to say, "So why do you want me to come over tomorrow?"

"Oh right! Well me dad and Uncle Qrow are professional huntsmen and I was thinking we could ask them to teach you how to fight."

"I know how to fight," Cloud grumbled as he stared at his knees.

"Not very good."

Cloud didn't respond at first, instead choosing to continue staring at his knees lost in thought.

"Why?"

The question caught the young girl off guard.

"Huh," she said quizzically cocking her head to the side in confusion.

"Why do you want to help me?"

"Well that's a stupid question. That's what friends do. They help each other."

Cloud could only stare at the girl in wonder. Not once since he had met her had he ever thought of her as his friend and yet here she was declaring that they were in fact friends. He wasn't sure how to feel about that.

After a few moments of consideration he gave her his answer, "Okay."

"Hmm?"

"I'll come over to your house tomorrow."

"Awesome. It's a date then."

Cloud ducked his head in an attempt to hide the blush that now spread across his face, "N-no it's not."

Yang merely giggled in response.

* * *

The more he thought about the more confused he became. The girl in dream sounded the same as the voice he heard in his sleep so often. To make matters more confusing she had the same name and similar features to the young woman he had met the day before. Was this simply his mind playing tricks on him, fabricating dreams that felt so real in order to get his hopes up, or was this truly what it seemed, a memory long forgotten that had finally resurfaced with the right trigger?

He sighed as he decided to shelve those thoughts for now. They were starting to give him a headache.

Getting up from his bed Cloud walked a few steps until he stood in front of the rooms only mirror and took a look at himself. He was currently dressed in Haven's school uniform which consisted of black shoes, black trousers, a white undershirt and a black jacket with a gray outline and a white armband.

He really hated the uniform, not only was it uncomfortable but It restricted his movements too much for his liking as well. It wasn't exactly efficient for combat which made no sense considering he "attended" a school that was meant to train huntsmen and huntresses. One would think that they would stress the importance of combat effective attire.

The sounds of falling water died down and he once again took his seat on his bed. A few minutes later Lightning emerged from the bathroom dressed in black shorts and a black t-shirt, her hair still wet and her feet bare.

Grabbing another nutrient bar from the box, Cloud held it out in offering, "Breakfast?"

Lightning accepted the bar with a nod of approval.

"Speaking of breakfast," she started as she tore into the poor replacement for breakfast, "Zidane and Y'shtola still haven't returned yet?"

"Not yet no."

She gave a small hum of annoyance before taking another bite of the nutrient bar, "Do you have any water?"

"This is all that's left," he said holding up his water bottle letting its contents slosh around in the bottom for emphasis.

"That is fine."

Catching the bottle as it was tossed to her she unscrewed the cap and drank from it greedily.

"Thank you," she thanked him before finishing both the bar and the water. "We should talk to Vincent about getting a fridge in here."

Cloud just nodded his agreement and turned his attention back to the ceiling.

"So" she started, "You were muttering in your sleep again. What were you dreaming about?"

Cloud looked her in the eye, careful to keep his expression impassive and emotionless, "Nothing."

"Uh-huh" she said unconvinced "Then why did you keep saying that girl's name over and over again?"

"What are you talking about," he asked managing to keep a look of surprise off his face

"Playing dumb huh? Whatever," she shrugged before heading towards the bathroom, "It's none of my business who you fantasize about," she said before shutting the door behind her.

Cloud frowned, Lightning wasn't normally one for teasing, that was more Zidane's thing, if she said he had been muttering Yang's name in his sleep then he most likely had, otherwise she wouldn't have said anything. And if Lighting had heard it that meant Zidane had most likely heard it too… Cloud groaned internally, it was going to be a long day.

It wasn't much later that the familiar sound of knuckles tapping on wood roused Cloud from his thoughts.

"It's open," he called out.

The wooden portal opened to reveal none other than Vincent.

"Where are the others," he asked as he closed the exit to the hall.

"The twins are still at breakfast and Lightning is getting dressed in the bathroom."

"You would think these schools would have a way to maintain privacy a little better between the genders. This current set up is rather lacking in that area for the coed teams."

"It is a little absurd," agreed Cloud.

The door to the bathroom opened up and out walked Lightning, her hair now dry and in her usual hairstyle. Her uniform was the same as Cloud's except instead of black trousers she wore a black and gray checkered skirt. A brief look of surprise crossed her face as she spotted their handler.

"Vincent, to what do we owe the pleasure?"

Vincent reached his non gauntleted hand into his cloak and pulled out a manila folder, "I came by to drop off your class schedules. Much like Haven you will be attending all of your classes as a team."

"Right, right, the whole working together as a team thing," she said with a roll of her eyes taking the folder from Vincent and handing a schedule to Cloud before looking over the one in her hands.

As they perused the plan of the day the door burst open to reveal an overly excited Zidane with his ever patient sister, looking a little less so at the moment, trailing closely behind him.

Vincent, Cloud and Lightning all stared at the twins oddly as they burst into the room having returned from breakfast that morning covered from head to toe in food, condiments and beverages of all sorts. When Lightning inquired as to the cause of their current condition Zidane beamed brightly and Y'shtola huffed in annoyance as they both began to speak; regaling them with a tale of a food fight of epic proportions, at least according to one of them.

"It was utterly ridiculous," Y'shtola stated as she caught the towel Lightning tossed to her and began to clean herself off. "The members of teams RWBY and JNPR had this ludicrous food fight using food as weapons."

"That is usually what you do in a food fight," said Cloud stating the obvious.

"No, no, no," Zidane exclaimed shaking his head wildly and throwing bits of food in every direction much to his teammates chagrin. "What she means is they used the food as if they were their own weapons," he clarified before continuing his explanation, "They were using swordfish and loaves of bread as swords and spears. And the hotty from yesterday, Yang, she was using these turkeys like they were gauntlets, or boxing gloves, or something."

"And this one girl," Y'shtola continued unenthused, wiping the last vestiges of jam from her face, "Nora I think her name was, used a pole and a watermelon as a hammer. It was… creative?"

Lightning sighed in exasperation, now sitting down on her bed with her right leg crossed over her left, before continuing with a new line of questioning, "So teams RWBY and JNPR, who are they exactly?"

The two faunus of team CYZL looked at each other before Y'shtola motioned for her brother to go ahead.

"So JNPR is this team made up of the watermelon girl, Nora Valkyrie, some kung fu guy named Ren, that hot shot celebrity girl that always wins that tournament in Mistral, Pyrrha Nikos, and then there is their leader Jaune..." Zidane then trailed off, tapping his chin with his index finger in thought, "How do I put this gently? He's a total dweeb."

"Zidane," reprimanded his sister, "that isn't very nice!"

"Well it's true," he said giving her an apologetic look.

"Even if it is you shouldn't say things like that about people. He was actually very nice to us."

"Yeah, okay, I'm sorry I said that alright?"

Y'shtola nodded firmly, satisfied for the time being.

"And what about this team RWBY," asked Lightning her arms now crossed over her chest as she gave the twins an expectant look, "Who are they?"

"Team RWBY," Y'shtola started, picking up where her brother left off, "They are made up of the Schnee Dust Company heiress, Weiss Schnee, a feline faunus much like myself, Blake Belladonna, that girl from yesterday, Yang" she gave Cloud a sidelong glance as she said her name, "and they are led by her little sister Ruby Rose."

Cloud gave a grunt of discomfort as pain surged in his cranium once more.

His teammates seemed not to notice this time.

"But seriously," Zidane continued loudly, grabbing Cloud's attention once more, "You guys should have been there. If not for the fight, then at least for the food. It was freaking delicious!"

Lightning wrinkled her nose in distaste, "No thanks, I think I will stick to the protein bars we were issued for breakfast. It is much faster and efficient then taking the time to sit down for a meal in the morning."

"I don't see how you and Cloud can eat those things," said Y'shtola in disgust, "They taste like cardboard."

"They are filled with all the nutrients, vitamins and calories needed to start your day. They are extremely healthy and packed with fiber," explained Lightning, "Besides the two of you should stop eating all of that junk. You are what you eat after all."

"Is that why you and Cloud are so dry, bland, and tasteless," quipped Zidane.

A cold glare from the pink haired warrior quickly silenced the simian faunus, "Just hurry up and get cleaned up and into your uniforms. Classes will be starting soon."

"Okay, okay," said Zidane turning away from her and heading into the bathroom for a quick shower, "Get off my case __mom__."

The monkey faunus visibly shuddered, not needing to see the pink haired huntress's expression to feel the killing intent in her glare at the moment.

"Move it," she ground out coldly sending a jolt of electricity chasing after him.

Zidane deftly dodged the nonlethal jolt and scampered into the bathroom shutting the door quickly behind him to avoid any further backlash from the volatile teenager.

* * *

A few hours later found team CYZL seated in a lecture hall for their second class, History.

Cloud found the teacher to be interesting to say the least. He taught the subject matter well moving quickly from topic to topic only going off script briefly to further elaborate on several points of discussion. Although the green haired man did seem to have a rather unhealthy addiction to caffeine if his hyperactive nature and constant sipping from his thermos were any indication.

This observation was proven false however, when the professor walked by his row and Cloud caught a whiff of the container's contents.

'Is that jet fuel,' he thought bewildered, 'What. The. Hell?'

Even with all his odd quirks this professor, or doctor, as he insisted they call him, was volumes better than the teacher from the first class. The teacher of, what he assumed was supposed to be, Grim Studies, if the drawings posted on the black board were of any indication, was an older portly fellow, whose name coincidentally just happened to be Port and boy was he a windbag.

He barely taught the subject at all, instead going off on a tangent and talking about his glory days. While the stories were mildly entertaining they were in no way educational, at least for Cloud who had decimated hordes of Grim alongside the rest of his team and thus knew of nearly all of their weaknesses.

It was during one of these stories that he spotted Yang in the class. He glanced at what he assumed were her teammates. Ruby was easy to spot, the 15 year old huntress looking oddly out of place among her classmates. Judging from the way she sat all prim and proper like, the girl to her left was the Schnee heiress, Weiss. Next to her sat the faunus girl, Blake, who was wearing a bow in her hair to cover up her ears.

After putting a face to their names Cloud turned his attention back to Yang who was now dozing off with her head resting on her arms. He studied her features for a few minutes hoping that something, anything might trigger some memories and yet nothing happened.

He had been watching her for nearly three minutes when her teammate Blake nudged her in the ribs and gestured in his direction.

As Yang turned to look at him their eyes locked for the briefest of moments but for the blonde swordsman it seemed to last an eternity as voices started to buzz in his head, snippets of conversations with a girl from his past, what might have been memories struggling to take hold yet failing to surface.

Looking away quickly he hoped she hadn't noticed but he knew he had been caught. Hopefully she would shrug it off as the attention of a hormonal teenage boy and nothing more.

* * *

After History with Doctor Oobleck was lunch. Y'shtola and Zidane led the way to the cafeteria where they sat as a team at the far end of the room secluded from the rest of the teams. Despite the fact they attended Haven Academy they didn't interact with the other students, they tended to avoid team CYZL as if the very idea with talking to them was a death sentence

"So Cloud," drawled out Y'shtola mockingly, setting aside her trey as she finished her lunch, "You seemed a little distracted in class. I know the class was boring but you are normally super attentive but today you seemed to be focused on something else."

"Something else," chimed in Zidane, "more like __someone__ else. His eyes were practically glued to that hotty Yang."

Y'shtola smiled coyly, "Do you have a crush on her?"

Cloud shook his head in denial, "It isn't like that."

"Then what is it like Cloud," questioned Zidane wriggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"It really isn't any of your business."

"You do have a crush on her," Y'shtola stated like an older sister teasing their younger brother "It's fairly obvious"

"So I guess this you calling dibs huh?" Zidane shrugged nonchalantly, "It's cool. I have my eye on this cute little bunny girl in the year above us anyway."

"Just forget it," muttered Cloud in defeat, "What's our next class?"

"Combat with Professor Goodwitch," stated Lightning.

"The one Vincent told us to be wary of?"

"That's the one."

"Great," grumbled Cloud before addressing his team, "If she calls on one us of for training we need to be sure that we don't overdo it."

"Yeah, yeah," Zidane said, waiving off Cloud's concerns, "Don't sweat it, we won't."

"You really shouldn't worry too much Cloud," agreed Y'shtola, "We will go easy on them."

"It will be fine," reassured Lightning calmly picking up her fork and picking at her food, "It's not as if anyone here could even push us to that point anyway."

"Even so we need to avoid bringing unnecessary attention to ourselves," reinforced Cloud firmly.

The rest of the team nodded in affirmation before continuing their lunch.

* * *

Across the hall Yang Xiao Long watched the strange members of the team from Haven curiously. They were odd that much was certain. The only two she had truly met were the two sibling faunus, Zidane and Y'shtola the latter having just introduced herself that morning. The pink haired one came off as unapproachable to say the least.

And then there was the blond one. She couldn't quite put her finger on it but there was something about him that seemed… Unsettling.

"Guys," she said gaining the attention of the remaining members of team RWBY, "Do you think there is something off about that team from Haven," she finished motioning to said team.

"Not really," said Ruby with a shrug, "Zidane and Y'shtola seemed cool and I haven't met the other two yet but the pink haired one kind of reminds me of Weiss."

"Ahem."

"Do you need a cough drop Weiss?"

"No Ruby Rose I do not need a cough drop. I am curious as to how she reminds you of me."

"Well you see," said Ruby nervously as she started to fidget under Weiss's intense gaze, "the two of you are… Well, um…"

"You're both frigid, unapproachable, stuck-up and mean spirited," said Blake evenly as she looked up from her book.

"Excuse me?! I am not unapproachable!"

"So what you're saying is," teased Yang as she jumped back into the conversation.

"I'm not any of those other things either!"

"Of course you're not," said Ruby as she attempted to calm down the heiress.

"I get what you mean though Yang," said Blake as she put her book down, "They are a bit odd and off putting. I mean the blond one was staring at you in class for a long time."

"He was," questioned Weiss, forgetting her anger.

"It's not that big a deal. He's a teenage boy and I am a teenage girl, it really isn't that strange."

Blake shook her head, "You didn't see the way he was looking at you. It wasn't the look of a boy that's infatuated with a girl. His gaze was far too intense for that as if he was trying desperately to remember something."

"You got all of that just from looking at his eyes," asked Weiss incredulously.

The former White Fang member shrugged, "The eyes are the gateway to the soul Weiss, you can learn a lot about someone just from looking into their eyes"

"So aside from the guy that might have a crush on Yang I still don't see what is so off about them," said Ruby.

"The other students," said Blake.

"What about the other students," asked Ruby scratching her head.

"I noticed that too," Weiss chimed in, "Despite being a team from Haven Academy they don't interact with any of the other teams. Even more than that the other teams avoid them like their carrying some sort of disease."

"That is pretty weird I guess," Ruby admitted.

"Anyway we can worry about that later," said Blake as she stood to her feet and grabbed her trey, "We need to get going, we have Combat Training with Professor Goodwitch next."

"Yeah," said Ruby as she followed suit, "She really hates it when we're late."

Yang and Weiss followed soon after and head off to the last class of the day.

* * *

Glynda was fuming, staring intently at her computer screen, as she continued to go over the information on team CYZL that had been provided to them by Mistral's council. There was very little info on them, little more than their names and the weapons that they used. Though she had been particularly horrified by the fact that they had been rescued from Hojo's lab.

She had heard the rumors surrounding the mad scientist, his unethical experiments and inhumane practices, but she had never dared to imagine that even that man would be so deranged that he would actually experiment on people, let alone children. There wasn't anything on what the madman had done to them which just made it all the more prudent to find out just what it was that they were capable of and to determine if they were a threat to Beacon and its students.

She would have to do it one at a time but she would have to pit the members of this team CYZL against the best students in her class and hopefully gather some sort of data on them in the process. While it did put the students in some danger it was still the best option she had at the moment so it would have to do.

After checking the time on the clock she locked the files on the computer and shut it down just as the students started to trickle in.

* * *

Team RWBY took their seats alongside team JNPR as the rest of the teams slowly filed in, the sound of idle chatter slowly rising in volume as the auditorium started to fill to capacity. Professor Goodwitch gazed around the room sternly and when the last student took their seat she brought out her whipping crop and swung it down on her desk with a loud *SNAP* effectively silencing the class.

"Listen up," she spoke loudly and clearly as she paced around the front of the classroom, " for those of you who are here for the festival this is combat training and I am Professor Goodwitch. In this class you be pitted against each other in one on one and even team matches as a way to further hone your combat abilities."

She made sure she had their attention before continuing, "For today we will be focusing on one on one matches. Now then," she glanced at the class roster before addressing them again, "Will Schnee, Weiss and Farron, Cl-"

"Lightning," a voice cut in interrupting the professor.

"I beg your pardon," questioned Goodwitch.

"My name," stated the pink-haired member of the strange Haven team as she stood to her feet, "is Lightning Farron."

"Very well then," conceded the professor, perturbed at having been interrupted, "Will Miss Schnee and Miss Farron please make their way down to the locker room and collect your weapons and gear. Yours will be the first match of the day."

Weiss followed the now identified Lightning down to the locker room. Ten minutes later found the two stern teenagers facing off against each other, one in a fencing stance, her rapier at the ready and the other brandishing one of two long pistols a hand on her hip in an annoyed fashion as if this was little more than a chore.

"Let's go Ice Queen," shouted Nora, impatient for the match to begin.

"Shut up," shouted both Weiss and Lightning before looking at each other oddly.

Ruby nudged her sister and whispered in her ear, "I told you they were alike."

Yang couldn't help but snicker at that.

Professor Goodwitch stood between the two teenagers, "The rules are simple. You are not to cause grievous harm to your opponent. The fight will end when one of the fighter's Aura has dropped to critical levels or yields. Combatants are you ready?"

Both girls nodded in affirmative.

"Very well," she said walking off the platform, "Begin."

Weiss slid her right foot forward slightly as she focused on her opponent, trying to size her up and find a weakness she could exploit but she just stood there, weapon drawn but held lazily at her side, a bored expression plastered to her face, her posture completely relaxed.

"Are you going to move or are you going to continue acting like a statue," Lightning spoke in a condescending tone.

Weiss narrowed her eyes at the girls attempt to goad her into making the first move but otherwise stayed still waiting for the right time to strike.

Lightning sighed audibly, "Fine if you aren't going to attack then I guess I will."

Then in a motion Weiss could barely follow the pink haired teenager snapped her weapon up and began to fire off shots in rapid succession.

Weiss summoned a glyph, the dust chamber of Myrtenaster spinning rapidly and coming to a stop on the ice dust, and drove the tip of her weapon into the floor summoning forth a barrier of ice.

The rounds had more impact than she had first thought but her barrier was still holding. She just had to wait for the right moment to strike.

It finally came the tell-tale sound of a gun running out of ammo, the empty magazine hitting the ground as her opponent reloaded. Dispelling the barrier in an instant Weiss dashed forward Myrtenaster poised to strike. Lightning brought her weapon up the gun folding out into a long sword in time to block her strike.

Weiss could hear the excited voice of her team's weapon enthusiast over the sounds of the fight, "That is so COOL!"

She locked eyes with her opponent briefly, the girl in front of her now smiling smugly, "You're better than I thought. But sadly," she said pushing Weiss away putting distance between them, "not good enough."

The smell of ozone filled Weiss's nostrils before she was forced to dodge to the side as the place she had just vacated was enveloped in a blast of blindingly bright, pink electricity.

"Nice dodging," her opponent complimented as pink electricity now coated her blade, "But how long can you keep it up I wonder."

Blasts of pink lightning started to rain down on Weiss's position forcing her to dodge relentlessly. No matter how hard she tried she just couldn't seem to gain any ground on the pink haired swordswoman who had yet to move from her starting position.

Thinking quickly, she drove her blade into the ground as she dodged using her glyphs and dust to send a blast of ice at Lightning.

Lightning struck the blast of ice with her blade, shattering the ice with a single blow but creating an icy mist that enveloped the entire arena, obscuring her vision.

Activating a time dialation glyph, Weiss boosted her speed and dashed forward to strike.

Her eyes widened in shock when she found she was moving faster than she had originally intended her momentum now carrying her forward at a speed she could not control.

Lightning calmly spun out of the way of the incoming human turned missile and stuck out her forearm catching the speeding heiress in a clothesline.

Weiss heard a loud crack and saw stars as her head impacted the floor. When her vision finally cleared she found herself staring at the tip of Lightning's electrified blade.

"Do you yield?"

"Yes," Weiss growled out begrudgingly.

"Well done ladies," said Goodwitch, making her way onto the platform, "Now please get changed back into uniform and return to your seats and we shall prepare for the next match."

* * *

As Weiss walked back to her seat she went back over the battle in her head.

'I don't understand. I calculated the speed I would need perfectly. I couldn't have possibly made a mistake. How did that happen?'

* * *

Cloud gave Lightning a chastising look as she sat down.

"What," she asked, "I went easy on her."

"Was it really necessary to overlay her glyph with one of your own," he asked keeping his voice low, "What if someone had noticed?"

"Please, my timing was perfect. If the heiress herself didn't notice it then I highly doubt anyone else did either."

* * *

Lie Ren sat contemplating the fight between Weiss and Lightning, one hand on his chin and his eyes closed in concentration.

"What's wrong Ren," asked team JNPR's leader.

"It could be nothing," he said turning to Juane and the members of JNPR and RWBY, "but for the briefest of moments I could have sworn there were two time dilation glyphs. One on top of the other."

"Impossible!"

Both teams looked at the Shnee heiress after her exclamation, "Only a person of the Schnee bloodline can possess our unique semblance. That girl's semblance was clearly the mundane ability to generate electricity."

"That mundane semblance kicked her butt Weiss-cream," Yang teased.

"That is beside the point," Weiss growled out in frustration, "The only explanation is I made a miscalculation. I have yet to master the use of my glyphs, that is all."

"Perhaps it was a trick of the light then," conceded Ren.

 ** **Hojo's Log Entry 451****

 _ _My little excursion into the Schnee family crypts was a resounding success. I have acquired the remains of one December Schnee. The first known wielder of the Schnee's famous hereditary semblance and if the rumors are true then she was also the Winter Maiden. They kept her body perfectly preserved, cryogenically frozen. Now all that is left is to extract her DNA and then the experiment can begin. It is with this that I plan to transfer one semblance from one body to another.__

 _ _The "volunteer" I obtained for this experiment already possesses a semblance of her own so I am curious to find out if this semblance will override her original one, if they will merge into one hybridization of the two or if they will continue to exist separately from each other within the same body.__

 ** **Entry 451 End****

 ** **A/N:**** So this brings yet another Chapter to an end. I Truly hope you enjoyed it. As always please read and review. I love to hear what you guys think of my story.


	5. Chapter 4

****A/N:**** So first off an apology for my long absence. Just very tired from work at the end of the day and the long hours don't leave much time for writing. I hope you enjoy my latest chapter.

 ** **Disclaimer**** : I do not own either RWBY or the Final Fantasy Franchise. RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and created by Monty Oum (He will be missed). The Final Fantasy Franchise is owned by Sqaure Enix.

Chapter 4

Zidane and Y'shtola were currently strolling down the corridor of the wing of the dormitory that belonged to Beacon's students. They had long since ditched their teammates who were most likely still in the library studying.

"Why do you think those two always have their noses in the books," Zidane asked his sister off handedly as continued his leisurely pace, his hands behind his head.

The cat faunus Sighed in exhasperation, "Because if it wasn't for them we would most likely be failing as a team. Their scores make up for the less than stellar performance of others."

"Hey now," Zidane protested, "we do all right in class."

" _ _I__ do all right in class Zidane. You have come close to failing your exams on several occasions not to mention all the points you lost for being tardy and turning in late work."

"I can't help it," he groaned dropping his hands to his sides as his shoulders sagged, "School is just so booooring! I don't get why we even have to go in the first place. It's not like I have to know all of this crap just to kill Grim."

"Yes, but there are other things huntsmen and huntresses can do besides just kill Grim," argued Y'shtola, "You really should try to study more you know."

"Yeah, yeah," her brother said waving her off.

They had just passed one of the many doors in the hall when they heard a girl shout in a shrill voice

"YOU DO WHAT?!"

Y'shtola quirked an eyebrow as her brother shot her a mischievous grin before pressing his ear to the door eavesdrop.

"I climb trees all the time," said a cheerful voice.

"Is that Sun," asked Y'shtola quietly.

"Yeah that's him all right," confirmed Zidane in an equally hushed tone.

"So… are we finally getting back at that Torchwick guy?"

"We are going to investigate the situation. __As a team__ ," said a quiet voice putting added emphasis on the last three words.

"I'm sorry Sun," said a much higher pitched voice, "we don't want to get friends involved if we don't have to."

"Pfft! That's dumb. You should always get friends involved," said Zidane's fellow simian faunus, brushing off the girl's concern, "That's why I brought Neptune."

The voices became muffled as they moved further away from the door.

"So," started a voice they recognized as Neptune, "What's the plan?"

"Sun and I will investigate the White Fang. They meet up to discuss their plans and recruit new members. By posing as new members we should be able to get in without any trouble."

"I know a guy on the shady side of town that owes me a favor. If there's anything going on he'll know about it."

"Right then, Neptune you can go with Yang and Weiss and I will head to the communications tower!"

"Actually Ruby, why don't you go with Yang. I mean she is your sister."

"But, who would go with you Weiss?"

"Neptune and I could go together."

There a small pause as Ruby thought about it.

"Pshh! Naw!"

"But…"

It was then that the door was opened and Zidane tumbled forward into the room, Y'shtola laughing at her brother's predicament.

"Y'shtola, Zidane," questioned Ruby looking oddly at the two faunus.

"Hello Ruby," Y'shtola greeted the younger twin from the door.

"What are you two doing here," asked the Schnee heiress angrily.

"Well we were just passing by," said Zidane as he picked himself as his sister joined him in the dormroom

"When we heard shouting coming from here," Y'shtola continued.

"So we thought we might investigate."

" _You_ thought _you_ might investigate," Y'shtola corrected.

"You mean spy on us," accused Blake.

"What," Zidane said loudly as he clutched his chest in mock hurt, "How could you accuse us of that? I thought we were friends."

"We barely know you," said Weiss as she glared at the two siblings.

"Well if you let us tag along you can get to know us better Ice Queen," said Zidane.

The heiress continued to glare while muttering, "Why does everyone call me that?"

The members of team RWBY looked at each other briefly before speaking as one, "Sure/No Way"

Ruby and Yang looked at the other two members of their team curiously.

"Why not," asked Ruby.

It was Blake that answered, "We already have too many people going as is Ruby. The more people we have involved the more likely someone gets hurt. Besides we don't know them at all. We don't know if we can trust them."

"Nah," said Sun off handedly, "These two are fine, really it's the murder twins you have to worry about."

"The murder twins," Ruby questioned hesitantly, a look that was equal parts nervous and curious painted on her face.

"He means the girl that pwned Ice Queen over here and our fearless leader, Mr. Broody Pants," Zidane answered for Sun.

"Speaking of Lightning," Neptune interjected as he visibly shuddered, "She's not around is she?"

"No, she's still in the library," answered the whited haired cat faunus.

"Okay," Neptune breathed in relief, "good."

"Oh, right, Lightning and your leader whose name iiis…," Ruby paused as she tried to think of their leader's name but failed, "Come to think of it we never met your leader."

"That's right," exclaimed Y'shtola, "We haven't gotten the chance to introduce you guys yet."

"Meh," shrugged Yang, "I met him. I wasn't impressed."

"Yeah," said Zidane as he scratched his head in confusion, "I'm not sure what was up with him that day. But in all seriousness Cloud is the strongest guy I know."

Yang visibly stiffened, "I'm sorry what did you say?"

"I said he was the strongest guy I know."

"Not that, his name."

"His name is Cloud," answered Y'shtola not missing the pained look on Yang's face, "Is everything okay?"

"It's nothing," she answered quickly, "it's just a small world, that's all."

"What do you," started Y'shtola but was stopped short as Ruby placed a hand on her shoulder and shook her head, indicating it would be best not to continue that line of questioning.

"So then," Zidane spoke up bringing everyone's attention to him "who are we tagging along with?"

"Well you could always come to the CCT with Weiss and me," Ruby said brightly while Weiss was desperately motioning her objection from behind the twins.

"Laaaame," Zidane drawled out, "what else is there?"

"You could always come spy on the White Fang with Blake and me," Sun offered while Blake glared at them with distrust.

The twins looked at each other nervously.

"I'm not so sure that is a good idea," said Y'shtola calmly.

"Yeah," agreed Zidane, "Those guys kinda, sorta, might have a price on our heads at the moment."

Blake quirked an eyebrow to the side at that comment, "Oh really? Do tell."

"Maybe some other time, yeah?" Y'shtola said in an attempt to change the subject. "So where are you two going," she asked Yang and Neptune.

"I was going to get some information from the owner of a club on the shady side of town, he owes me a favor, and a drink," said Yang with a grin.

"Sweet! We are totally down for that! Right sis?"

Y'shtola shrugged, "Sounds fine to me."

"Yeah fine, just follow me," mumbled Yang before heading out the door followed closely by Neptune and the Tribal twins.

Blake motioned for Sun to follow her and the faunus left leaving Ruby and Weiss alone in the room.

"So, shall we get going," Weiss asked her team leader.

Ruby for her part didn't answer and was currently staring at the screen of her scroll.

"Ruby!"

"Wha-," exclaimed Ruby as she fumbled with her scroll, "Why are you shouting?"

Weiss sighed in exasperation, "Let's just get going."

"Yeah okay."

Weiss walked out the door and Ruby took one last look at her scroll which currently displayed a photo of a young blond boy with icey blue eyes and a short sword in hand faced off against a young Yang whose fists were raised.

"Ruby Rose," her impatient teammate shouted once more.

"I'm coming!"

Ruby put her scroll away and quickly followed after Weiss.

* * *

Zidane and Y'shola followed behind Yang and Neptune as they entered Beacon's garage. They passed a large variety of vehicles ranging from beat up hand me downs to expensive new cars and even the odd moped here and there.

"Well, here we are," said the blond bombshell as she came to a stop in front of a yellow motorcycle. "Guys," she said gesturing to the bike affectionately, "This is Bumblebee."

"Oh," exclaimed Y'shtola in wonder causing Yang to swell with pride, "So boys aren't the only ones who name their vehicles."

"I guess not," Yang said as she deflated slightly having misinterpreted the other girl's exclamation of wonder.

"Okay this is great and all," said Neptune, "But I don't see how all of us are going to fit on his tiny bike."

"Yeah, I can only carry one of you. The other two might have to stay behind."

"Oh, don't worry," said Zidane cockily, "We've got a ride."

"Please them me you didn't," his sister groaned already know his answer.

"Yep I sure did," said her brother as he pulled out a key attached to a black keychain shaped like the head of a wolf.

Y'shtola pinched the bridge of her nose before scolding her brother, "Zidane are you crazy? Do you have any Idea what he is going to do to you when he finds out?"

"Don't you mean what he is going to do to us dear sister?"

She shook her head, "Of course not. I am just an innocent bystander who was caught up in the crimes of her elder brother," she said dramatically placing the back of her hand to her forehead as she mock fainted.

Zidane scoffed, "Like you're innocent."

That earned him a smack on the back of the head.

"That's no way to talk to your little sister."

"Ahem!"

The twins quickly turned their attention to the blond member of team RWBY.

"Not that this isn't entertaining and all but we really need to get going."

"Oh right of course. Just give me a sec."

Grabbing the keychain, he pressed a button disguised as the wolf's nose and its eyes glowed an eerie red as the sound of an engine roaring to life could be heard in the distance. The sound of rubber screeching on asphalt soon followed after and not much later a large jet black motorcycle rolled into view coming to a stop before the simian faunus.

"The hell," exclaimed Neptune, "Is that supposed to be a bike or a tank."

Zidane shrugged, "A bit of both I think. Guys I would like you to meet… Um… Uh," he said as he fumbled for the name, "Psst, sis, what the hell does Cloud call this thing again?"

Y'shtola sighed as she came to stand beside her brother. "This," she said gesturing to the sleek black motorcycle, "Is Fenrir."

"That is so cool," said Neptune.

"Yeah well that thing ain't got 'nothin on Bumblebee," Yang said with a huff as she crossed her arms over her chest self-consciously.

"Someone's jealous," teased Zidane.

"As if!"

"You know," offered Y'shotola, "I'm sure if you asked him Cloud would help you upgrade Bumblebee."

Yang flinched slightly as she said his name. "Yeah, no. I'm not letting anyone but a professional near Bumble. I don't care how good of a mechanic they think they are."

"Yeah Cloud's the same way," said Y'shtola noticing Yang's reaction, "There's no telling what he's gonna do once he finds out Zidane took Fenrir out for a joyride. It his pride and joy. He built it himself."

"Your team leader built this all by himself," asked Neptune in disbelief.

"Of course," Y'shtola stated plainly, "Every part was custom ordered and made to his specifications. He put a lot of time in effort in designing it."

"He doesn't get out much does he?"

"That guy," Zidane chuckled, "Is about as socially active as people who sit at home all day playing video games and writing cheesy fanfiction. But he is one helluva mechanic."

"Not that I don't love talking about bikes and debating who's got the bigger 'engine'," Yang said making air quotes, "but I think we've wasted enough time. We need to get going."

"Yeah, yeah," Zidane waved her off as he seated himself on his leader's bike, "Come on sis, hop on."

"You do know how to drive this don't you," she asked as she took her seat behind her brother.

"Oh come on. I've seen Cloud drive this thing a thousand times. How hard could it be?"

"Truly, your confidence is inspiring oh brother of mine," she said sarcastically as she held on tightly.

"Enough chit chat," shouted Yang as Bumblebee roared to life, the sounds of its engine nearly completely drowned out by the larger bike beside it, "Let's go already."

It wasn't long before she was speeding down the street headed downtown with Zidane following carefully behind her.

* * *

Cloud sat in the library finishing up what was left of his homework for Professor Port, Lightning seated just opposite him doing the same, as he mechanically copied down the answers from the book.

'The key differences between a normal Beowulf and an alpha is primarily their size as well as their more heavily armored bodies,' he read the passage silently as he wrote it down word for word, 'While a normal Beowulf is easily dispatched an Alpha is another matter entirely. When combating an Alpha Beowulf it is best to aim for their weak spot located on their-'

It was at that moment that his Scroll started beeping loudly. He reached into the pocket of his blazer and pulled out a black scroll with silver accents and quickly silenced the alarm. He furrowed his brow in confusion as he looked at the alert notification on the screen. Someone had started Fenrir.

Lightning gave him a curious look from behind her own book, "Is something wrong?"

"Fenrir's engine alert is going off. Someone's started it."

"Zidane?"

Cloud sighed in annoyance as he stood to his feet, "Most likely. I'll go handle it."

"I'll come too," she said standing from her chair. Seeing the curious look on Cloud's face she continued, "I need a break a chance to stretch my legs."

"Fair enough," he conceded as they made their way out of the Library.

They met half an hour later outside the academy both dressed in their combat gear.

Lightning wore her sleeveless white coat, shorts, knee high combat boots and fingerless gloves. Strapped to her left leg was a pouch filled with spare ammunition and dust crystals and on either side of her waist were her two Blaze Edge's. On her left shoulder was a small pauldron

Cloud wore a sleeveless black shirt with black pants and combat boots. Like his female counterpart, he also wore black fingerless gloves and on his left shoulder was his unique pauldron. Equipped to both arms were metal bracers that covered the entirety of his forearms. The bracers were a custom design, able to store dust crystals of all elements so that Cloud could draw on their power at a moment's notice. On his back was a leather harness used to hold the various blades that made up First Tsurugi, which at the moment only carried two of the swords.

Lightning quirked an eyebrow upon noticing this, "Where's the rest of it?"

"Where do you think?"

She failed to suppress a chuckle at her leader's misfortune, "Well then, where are they headed?"

"One second," he said pulling out his scroll and speaking into it, "Minerva, locate Fenrir."

" _ _Locating Fenrir,"__ spoke a monotonous feminine voice _ _, "Fenrir located 67 kilometers west of your current location at Junior's"__

"Well that's a bit further that I expected," Lightning said slightly surprised, "Well that shouldn't be a problem for Sleipnir."

"You're going to summon that abomination?"

"You know that's why he doesn't like you," she said as she summoned forth a glyph.

"That __thing,__ " he said emphasizing the last word as the glyph spun faster, pink electricity arcing to and fro, "was a Grimm turned into a mechanical monstrosity by Hojo."

"Hypocrite," she said as the glyph disappeared and in its place now stood a large, armored, horse like creature with eight legs that seemed to be comprised entirely of pink electricity.

"And besides," she said with a smug grin as she climbed on to its back, "Sleipnir's much faster than your precious Fenrir."

"That's never been proven," Cloud said in his usual deadpan.

Lightning rolled her eyes at her leader, "Just get on already."

"Fine," he said as he climbed on.

Sleipnir gave a snort of protest and shook its head violently as Cloud seated himself behind Lightning.

"You should grab on," Lightning advised as she grabbed hold of the reigns.

"I'll be fine," he argued as he tightened his legs around the mechanical creature's flanks.

"Don't say I didn't warn you. Let's go Sleipnir!"

The creation of Hojo whinnied as it reared up on its hind legs before taking off like a bolt of lightning, too fast for any onlookers to get a good glimpse of it.

 ** **Hojo's Log Entry 97****

 _ _Recently I have received funds from certain interested parties to continue my experiments in controlling the creatures of Grimm. These benefactors of mine seek to use them against their enemies. Though the thought had never originally occurred to me I must say my interest has been peaked at the prospect of weaponizing these creatures.__

 _ _The first Grimm I experimented on were utterly resistant to standard chemicals often used to control organics. Not only that but many appear to be too fragile to even hold up against standard weapons often wielded by even the most average of huntsmen and military.__

 _ _Perhaps if I were to reinforce their bodies with cybernetic? Yes, Yes! That could work! I could then use the cybernetics to program them for obedience and combat! Oh yes, this venture could prove quite lucrative indeed. Then I would have no need to worry about continued funding for my… Other projects.__

 ** **Entry 97 End****

 ** **A/N:**** Not as long as I originally intended. I was shooting for about 5-6k for this chapter and to get further into the story. Unfortunately, I had a bit of writer's block and also haven't had the time I wanted to work on this. Long work days often hinder my writing time. Anyway, there will be a longer chapter posted soon with lots of action. I have tomorrow off so I will spend the day writing the next chapter. More character interaction and a fight with a robot. And someone already guessed it, Cloud and Pyrrha will have a spar in Goodwitch's class. Well I hope you all enjoyed this and as always please read and review.


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